Justin Bieber, 17, and his 19-year-old girlfriend, Selena Gomez, have been immortalised in bronze ... naked. The pop stars are the subject of a new sculpture by Daniel Edwards, the American artist best known for a statue of the singer Britney Spears, nude on a bearskin, giving birth.

While Edwards has announced the sculpture in an attention-grabbing statement, it's not clear whether the Bieber-Gomez tribute has actually been cast. The released images seem more like computer-generated illustrations than photographs. Titled Justin and Selena as One, the sculpture shows the two singers in their birthday suits, bonded at the ribcage. Bieber, who was born in Canada, has a maple leaf covering his nether regions while Gomez, from Texas, has a strategically placed lone star. Before them, over the words "Justin & Selena Forever", a bronze Canada goose is mounting a bronze Texas armadillo.

"From my point of view, when I look at it, there's a lot of interesting components," Edwards told MTV News. "Can you think of any teenage couple that's bigger or been bigger than them?" The artwork is deliberately provocative, he said, commenting on the way adolescent stars are often sexualised. "[It] happens time and again to teenage celebrities, where they're kind of exploited early – earlier than what is legal – and the media fuels that as best they can."

Elsewhere, Edwards has been more tongue-in-cheek. He suggested the work "be considered for installation at Canadian embassies around the globe, as a symbol of Canada's prowess in the areas of art and commerce". But despite these jokes, Edwards – himself a father – told MTV he thinks seriously about representations of underage sexuality. "You see all those beach photos of [Justin and Selena]," he said. "My children are young, but I think I would be freaked out if I saw images of them like that on the internet."

Justin and Selena as One will reportedly be unveiled at New Fine Arts, a coyly named adult entertainment store in Dallas, Texas.